Thursday, March 08, 2007

Choreography

I ventured into choreography for the first time last week. I'd choreographed little numbers for myself before, like when I was getting my performance badge as a Girl Scout. I'd collaborated before where someone else did most of the work and I threw in whatever ideas I could. When I dance in the living room, it's all very organic. I had to come up with something for other people to dance at an audition.

It was really challenging. First, I didn't know what skill levels would arrive for the audition. I didn't want to come up with something too difficult and scare off the handful of people who would be in attendance. Of course, I didn't want it to be too simple either because it would have to hold their interest. Second, I didn't know what the plans were for the actual show. I had no idea what the intentions were for the final product and if what I did would actually be part of that final product. All I knew is that people were planning on auditioning for this fundraiser and there was no one available to give them a dance piece to use for the audition.

With these unknowns, I had to take whatever stable things I knew. I know how to dance like a stripper. Since poles are not an option, I put together a simple and sexy chair dance. I created it so that it would be easy to learn in the time available and wouldn't be so trashy that the dancers would leave. I used some slow music and left the fan kicks, rolls on the ground and slithering out of the equation. I threw half of what I had out the window on Saturday afternoon and reworked it so it would flow better for the Sunday auditions.

I enjoyed teaching the dance, and the two girls who showed up did nicely with it. It looks like the plan is to have a jazz number, so I don't think I'll be choreographing on that. It was a nice little win putting something together in a really short time period, teaching it, and then seeing the finished work. I think it made me a better dancer.